What's Happening This Week: Members of the Washington State women's rowing team will travel across the state to race in the Husky Invitational, Saturday, April 9...featured for the Cougars will be the varsity four crew as it will face Washington for the first time this season...also competing for WSU are the second varsity four and third varsity eight crews as well as the second and third novice eight crews...the invitational will be held on the Montlake Cut in Seattle...racing is scheduled to begin at 7:00 a.m.

What Happened Last Week: WSU sent the varsity eight, second varsity eight and novice eight crews to the San Diego Crew Classic at Mission Bay, Calif...after strong performances April 2 in their respective heats, all three Cougar crews advanced to the Grand Finals...during the Grand Finals April 3, the WSU second varsity eight crew, 6:56.05 captured a second place finish in the Jackie Ann Stitt Memorial Trophy Grand Final race...the varsity eight squad rowed to a fifth place finish in the Jessop-Whittier Cup completing the 2000 meter course with a time of 6:40.95...on the way to its fifth place finish, the varsity crew earned a better mark than No. 10 Tennessee (6:42.92)...in novice action, the WSU crew placed sixth in the San Diego Sea World Grand Final race, rowing to a time of 7:27.33...in all three races crews from California placed first.

Last Years Husky Invitational: At the 2004 Husky Invitational, WSU's second novice eight and varsity four crews raced against Washington and Oregon State...in novice action, the Cougs fell to both the Huskies and the Beavers...in a separate race, OSU and WSU rowers competed in the same shell to row against a crew of Huskies...in the spilt squad, the Huskies captured the victory...in the varsity race, there were no times recorded.

Cougars Host Home Regatta April 16: The Cougars will return home April 16 to host Washington in a dual regatta on the Snake River...in 2004 during a dual regatta hosted by the Huskies on the Montlake Cut, WSU fell to the Dawgs in the varsity eight by less than four seconds...WSU also fell in the varsity four and novice races...the Cougs were victorious over UW in the second varsity eight race...in 2003, the last time the Cougars hosted Washington in a dual regatta, WSU captured wins in the varsity four and second varsity eight races.

Varsity Eight Ranked in National Poll: The Cougars are ranked 16th for the second consecutive week in the US Rowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association NCAA Division I Varsity Eight Coaches Poll...the Cougars are one of seven Pac-10 teams in the poll...California (No. 5), Washington (No. 11), Stanford (No. 11), USC (No. 12), UCLA (No. 13) and newcomer to the polls this week Oregon State (No. 20) were the other conference teams...Princeton holds the No. 1 position in the poll... polls are released every Wednesday.

Head Coach Jane LaRiviere on this week's action: "The big race for the day is going to be the varsity four because that is part of our NCAA squad. We have raced and beaten Oregon State but we know that Washington is a deep team and they are going to be a great match for us."

Cougars Travel to Boston: At the Head of the Charles in October, the Cougar varsity eight faced tough competition...WSU raced in the championship eights against 38 other teams, including the US National team, Brown, which finished first at the NCAA Championships in May, and Yale, which finished second at the NCAAs...out of the field of 39 crews that competed in the Championship eights, 14 squads finished ranked in the top 25 in the final 2004 Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association/US Rowing poll...the WSU varsity eight was ranked 17th in the poll that was released on May 19...at the race, the Cougars finished in the top half of the 42-boat field in the Championship eight race...WSU's crew finished the 2.5 mile course with a time of 12:55.849...the Cougs finished the race 17th overall and 14th out of all collegiate competitors... ASR Nereus, a selection Dutch National team members, won the race with Princeton University and Yale rounding out the top three...according to the event's website, www.hocr.org, the Head of the Charles is the world's largest two-day rowing event...the original event was held in 1965 by the Cambridge Boat Club...each year, the event welcomes 7,000 competitors from 500 top tier college and club teams...the event also attracts over 300,000 visitors and spectators.

2003-04 Season Recap: For a second consecutive year, the Cougars earned a team bid to the NCAAs ... WSU earned its NCAA team bid following multiple strong finishes throughout the season, including a second place finish by the second varsity eight at the Pacific-10 Championships...WSU rounded out the season with a ninth place finish at the NCAAs, the highest team finish at the national championships in school history...the trip to NCAAs was highlighted by a third place finish by the second varsity eight crew...the second varsity eight was the first boat from Washington State to advance to a Grand Final at the NCAA Championships since the regatta's inception in 1997.

Coaching Staff: LaRiviere begins her third season at the helm of the Cougars...in her first two years on the Palouse, LaRiviere has led WSU to its first two team bids to the NCAAs in school history...LaRiviere is assisted by Janey Charlton and Mike Stahlman...Charlton is in her third year with the rowing program and is entering her first as the head coach for the novice squad...Stahlman is beginning his first season as assistant coach for the Cougars.